Woman Is Overall Winner at Canadian Trail Ultramarathon

The Canadian Death Race is, as its name implies, a brutal event. The 125-kilometer (77.6 miles) race in Grande Cache, Alberta, takes runners up three mountain summits for more than 17,000 feet in elevation change and through a river with knee-deep water. Not to mention much of the course covers rocky, unstable terrain.

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For the first time in the race’s 15-year history, a female runner crossed the tape first ahead of the entire 120-person solo field and all but four of the 141 relay teams. She outran the first male finisher by nearly 90 minutes.

Alissa St Laurent, a 31-year-old accountant from Edmonton, earned the top overall spot at the race last weekend, running 13:51:21.

“I was there to take a couple hours off my time,” St Laurent, who won the female division of the race in 2013 with a time of 16:03:37, told Runner’s World Newswire. “I did go in hoping to at least win the women’s field, and I knew I could see a big improvement based on my training.”

St Laurent started running in 2009 and said she considered herself a casual runner at the time. She finished her first marathon in 2011—a 3:41 at the Edmonton Marathon—and a year later she did a portion of the Canadian Death Race as a member of a relay team. After that experience, she said she had her heart set to finish the entire distance on her own.

“There are a lot of great events, but this one has more drama and flair to it,” St Laurent said. “When you cross the river, they’ve got someone dressed like the Grim Reaper set up there to take your coin. It’s entertaining.”

But winning outright this year came as a surprise, she said.

“The first 19 kilometers is known as the easier section, so I started out pretty ambitious,” St Laurent said. “I wanted to make a statement and give everyone a chance to chase me. One of the male soloists asked me, ‘Are you planning to keep this pace all day?’ I think he doubted me, but I didn’t miss a beat.”

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During the second section of the race—St Laurent said the 27-kilometer stretch is the most difficult on the course—is where she separated herself from the pack.

“I worked the hardest for this section,” said St Laurent. “I wanted to hold onto [the first spot], but I had to be smart about it. I’ve gotten a lot better on the technical downhills and the uphills. I trust myself more.”

Though she still held the lead in the next portion of the race, St Laurent’s quick pace started to catch up to her. With the biggest climb of the course still to come around the 46-kilometer mark, she tried not to get ahead of herself.

By the time she reached the massive, nearly 3,500-foot ascent up Mount Hamel, St Laurent said she was back in control of her mind and body.

“I made a dent in my time up that climb,” she said. “After that, it was not literally all downhill from there, but mentally that was a good point for me.”

With about 30 kilometers to go, runners make their way around a short loop and return to an aid station. There, St Laurent asked a volunteer if she had seen any other solo runners. She was told nobody was near her.

“At that point, I knew it was my race to lose,” St Laurent said. “But as long as I kept pushing, I knew I had it.”

The final meters through the tiny town of Grande Cache, full of spectators cheering her on by name, were the highlight of the day, St Laurent said. “Three girls started running with me,” she said. “I was moving by then and they were keeping up. Their support meant a lot.”

Once she broke the tape that afternoon—she was within striking distance of the women’s course record of 13:28:39 set by Ellie Greenwood in 2010—St Laurent wandered around the finish “wide-eyed,” carrying a half-drunk cup of beer someone had handed her.

“The course record was in the back of my mind, but it wasn’t a final goal,” said St Laurent, who added that she’s now considering a record attempt next year. “I’m proud to get that close to someone as amazing as Ellie. I just raced 100 miles three weeks before, so I was a little nervous to see how my body would react.”

Reflecting on the race a few days later, St Laurent admitted she’s just thrilled her hard work paid off.

“A lot of focus went into that day, but I didn’t forget to enjoy it,” she said. “I run for pretty selfish reasons—you have to when you spend that much time doing something. Just to be able to represent the sport has been pretty amazing and inspiring to me.”

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